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This work conducted market research on the use of smartphones and smartphone applications in the forest products industry and academia. This research also attempted to project how likely the industry would be to use an app that measures stiffness of wood. After the review of scholarly literature and existing apps, data was collected via an online survey. Participants were individuals who work with wood or wood-based products. Out of 1,221 invitations, 311 were returned at the response rate of 27.2 percent. Data was analyzed using SPSS statistics. Nearly all of the respondents (95.7%) had smartphones, and over half of them were iOS users (52.3%). More respondents had paid apps experiences (45.2%) than in-app purchases (28.5%). Regarding responses’ perceptions toward the app, the respondents expressed that the app could be useful, and were interested in the app. Millennials showed a higher interest level in the app than other generations.

Smartphones are capable of a multitude of things, yet it is still common to hear about the smartphone as a whole as being harmful to humans. In order to challenge the perception of smartphones as harmful, a concept was manifested in the form of seven iterations of prototypes. The concept, called Broadcastr, revolved around broadcasting to one's immediate surroundings what one was doing on one's smartphone. While continuously developing the prototypes, the concept was evaluated by the researcher. Evaluation occurred both in the process of prototyping itself as well as by exposing it to other people. The final design consisted of a Raspberry Pi Zero W, which was connected to an Android app via Bluetooth. The Android app ran in the background and monitored whether a new app was activated by the smartphone user. When this happened, a message was sent to the Raspberry Pi, which would display an icon on a 0.9" 128x64 OLED display, which corresponded to the category of the app being activated. It was found that the prototype showed an indication of being capable of challenging perceptions of the smartphone as being harmful, and that it became a useful tool for others to know what the smartphone user was doing. Finally, two possible future research projects were presented. One project would focus on another type of device's activity being broadcasted, while the other would introduce the broadcasting device to a high school class to study its effects.

Background: European studies on determinants and factors associated with problematic smartphone use (PSU) in children and adolescents are still sparse. This study reports the current amount of PSU symptoms and the presence of (clinically relevant) PSU in German children and adolescents. We also investigated associations between sociodemographic factors, different smartphone usage patterns, and daily smartphone usage time and the amount of PSU symptoms in this group. In addition, associations of PSU symptoms and high smartphone usage times (> 2 h/day) with behavioural problems, quality of life (QoL), and school performance were investigated. Methods: Within the framework of the LIFE Child study, 564 children and adolescents aged 10–18 years provided information on PSU symptoms (using the Smartphone Addiction Proneness Scale), daily smartphone usage time, smartphone activities, behavioural strengths and difficulties (using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire), QoL (using the KIDSCREEN-27), and school performance. Multiple regression analyses were applied to assess associations. Results: In the present sample, PSU was present in 13 children (2.3%). Older age, female gender, high daily smartphone usage time of > 2 h, and intensive smartphone use for social networking, gaming, or watching video clips were significantly associated with more PSU symptoms. Children and adolescents reporting more PSU symptoms also showed lower QoL, more behavioural difficulties, and poorer school performance, independently of age, gender, socio-economic status, and daily smartphone usage time. In contrast, daily smartphone usage time per se showed only weak or non-significant associations with these aspects of health and behaviour. Conclusion: Intensive smartphone use for entertainment may increase the risk of developing PSU symptoms. Furthermore, the results indicate that PSU symptoms (more than long smartphone usage times per se) are associated with more behavioural difficulties and poorer QoL

I den här undersökningen utforskar vi hur användande av smarttelefoner skulle kunna se ut inom en nära framtid. Med designfiktion som grundpelare och förhållningssätt, verklighetsproducerar vi diegetiska prototyper som med sina utseendemässiga egenskaper och funktionaliteter, berättar om en möjlig framtida värld av smarttelefonanvändning. De diegetiska prototyperna är sprungna ur ett fiktivt scenario, baserad på tidigare forskning om aspekter kring användning av smarttelefoner, smarttelefonens tekniska utveckling och dess estimerade roll i en nära framtid. Med Scenariometoden, en egentillverkad metod som vi kallar “Lager-på-lager” och Bleeckers (2009) framställning av designfiktion, kan vi utgå från dessa aspekter för att fantisera och spekulera kring hur det en dag skulle kunna se ut. Löwgren och Stoltermans (2004) bok “Design av informationsteknik” bidrar med metodologi som bistår oss med verktyg för att realisera vår designfiktiva verklighetsproduktion, där fokuset ligger på idégenerering och ifrågasättande samt en abstrakt bild av hur designsituationer börjar, som vi använder som ett förhållningssätt under hela gestaltningsarbetet. Vi får inte bara inblick i hur smarttelefonanvändning skulle kunna se ut inom en snar framtid, men även hur designfiktion kan användas i en spekulerande undersökning, där vetenskapliga fakta, design och fiktion möts och blir ett. / In this Bachelor thesis we explore what smartphone usage could be like in the near future. With design fiction as the central method of approach, we create real life diegetic prototypes that, with their appearance and functionalities, tell of a possible future world of smartphone use. Our diegetic prototypes come from a fictitious scenario, based on aspects derived from science fact, containing smartphone use, the smartphone’s technological evolution and estimated role in the near future. With Scenariometoden (“The scenario method”), our own method Lager-på-lager (“Layer-on-layer”) and Bleecker’s (2009) interpretation of design fiction, we can base our fantasy and speculation on these aspects, to imagine what it one day could be like. Löwgren and Stolterman’s (2004) book “Design av informationsteknik” contributes methodology that assists us with tools for realizing our design-fictional reality production, where the focus is on idea generation and questioning as well as an abstract picture of how design situations begin which we use as an appliance throughout the design work. We not only get an insight into what smartphone use could be like in the near future, but also how design fiction can be used in speculative study, where science fact, design and fiction meet and become one.

What lies beneath the surface of modern day interfaces? And what are the consequences of sharing our digital self with companies in exchange for free services? We report on a study of smartphone users in Sweden where behaviours and reactions are assessed from a critical viewpoint using the suggested method “Clear the palace”. Users express concerns regarding management of the digital self as well as showing awareness of the limitations within personalization as a result of data mining. Strategies to limit mobile overuse are discussed. The analysis is based on; Shklovski’s notions privacy paradox and creepiness and Pierce’s framework of undesigning technology. Clear the Palace as a methodology is assessed aswell as societal implications of data mining are problematized. / Vad pågår under ytan av moderna gränssnitt? Och vad är konsekvenserna av att vi delar våra digitala jag med företag i utbyte mot gratis tjänster? Vi redogör för en studie av mobilanvändare i Sverige där beteenden och reaktioner studeras ur ett kritiskt perspektiv med metoden “Röj palatset”. Användare uttrycker oro gällande hanteringen av det digitala jaget och uppvisar medvetenhet angående begränsningarna av personalisering som en följd av data mining. Strategier för att begränsa överanvändning av smartmobiler diskuteras. Analysen baseras på; Privacy Paradox, Leakiness/Creepiness enligt Shklovski och Pierce ramverk Undesigning Technology. Röj palatset som metod utvärderas och implikationer av data mining för samhället problematiseras.

Refugees arriving in Europe face numerous socio-cultural challenges towards being integrated members of their host society. While acculturation strategies and ICT use of refugees have been studied separately, we investigate refugees’ smartphone use for acculturation by conducting qualitative interviews with 30 refugees. We contribute five practices related to acculturation that express refugees’ intercultural exchange within the host society while preserving their original culture: seek information online; communicate with family and friends abroad; meet locals; meet peers and counteract boredom. Tied to these practices, we find the five consequences empowerment, connection to host society, distraction, sense of belonging and connection to origin, which give an account of the various acculturation issues and how refugees use smartphones in support thereof.

The global average screen time on smartphones reaches up to 4 hours, revealed App Annie. In recent years, there have also been increasing concerns about the problematic use of smartphones and its impact on public health, such as sleep hygiene, cognitive capacity, and mental health. According to Tristan Harris, a former Design Ethicist at Google, enabling grayscale is a possible way to reduce screen time, because it makes the smartphone less attractive. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to perform an experiment to confirm or reject the functionality of this recommendation and at the same time, through in-depth interviews with its participants, to describe how they perceive it and how it affects them.

融入臺灣：外國人使用智慧型手機為整合工具的經驗 / Expats living in East Asian nations have a distinctly fresh view of the burgeoning cultures around them. The field of media ethnography has largely ignored this view in favor of domestic perspectives, focusing on virtual ethnography, digital observation, and the collection of empirical data within these local populations. Taiwan is a fast-evolving nation state, with an ever-increasing foreign community and a mobile phone penetration rate of 98%. This study, recounted from the eyes of an American expat living in Taiwan, examines the successes and pitfalls Western nationals face when using their smartphones to overcome cultural barriers, maintain social relationships, and build an identity overseas. The research itself takes shape through a series of one-one-one interviews, concentrating on five subjects of differing age, gender, travel background, language level and locale. The second focus is on in-depth, on-site participant observation of these individuals interacting with Taiwanese locals and attempting to build a life for themselves away from home. Observations of their daily lifestyles, combined with interview content, sheds light on the intentions and contradictions they face in using their smartphones to traverse their environment. The goal of this study is to draw a detailed and nuanced picture of the expatriate experience and image in Taiwan, as well as analyze the ability of Westerners to use technology to integrate into Taiwanese culture.